


The Perfect Man's A Fool

by disco_agidyne



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Developing Relationship, Fluff, Lovable Loser Narukami, M/M, The Yosuke Usual, souyoweek2016
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2018-07-14 15:23:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7177232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disco_agidyne/pseuds/disco_agidyne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yosuke finds out that even his "partner," the great Yu Narukami, has his flaws.</p><p>...His big, stupid, adorable flaws.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“And this is Yosuke, my boyfriend.”

Yosuke dropped his soda into his lap and whipped his head around to face his partner, eyes wide with terror and mouth wide with apparently not words as he stammered for a good fifteen seconds while trying to think of a response. The Tapp soaking through his pants didn’t speed up his thought process any, and he found himself looking down partially so he could soak it up with his napkin and partially because Yu looked completely calm, like he’d said something normal that actually made sense.

And the worst part about it was that no one questioned it, or even batted an eyelid, save for Rise who was blinking away her confusion.

“D-don’t scare me like that. Geez.”

Yu turned to Yosuke, who was putting his empty cup back on the table, and tilted his head.

“Scare you?”

“Yeah. She just joined us yesterday. I don’t want an idol thinking I’m…” Yosuke glanced at Kanji. “You know.”

“Hey, why’re you lookin’ at me?”

Kanji’s question went ignored.

“My boyfriend?” Yu asked, without a trace of jest in his voice.

God, Yosuke hoped Rise would pick up on his partner’s sense of humor quick.

“Senpai’s boyfriend…” Kanji echoed to himself, lost in thought.

“S-stop that!” Yosuke stammered.

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Rise said, shaking her head. She sighed and rested her elbows on the table. “I am kinda disappointed Senpai’s not single, though.”

Yosuke stood up and slammed his hands on the table, causing his empty cup to wobble.

“We’re not dating!” he croaked.

“Yes, we are.”

Yosuke shot glances at Yukiko and Chie, silently begging them to help him. If they’d ever thought of him as a friend, or ever had any goodwill toward him at all, surely they’d jump in now. Defend him. Tell Rise what a kidder Yu could be. Change the subject. Talk about Chie’s dog, whatever his name was. Take Rise somewhere else. Do a distracting magic trick. Break into song. _Anything._

But all he got was a confused “What?” from Chie.

 _They hate me_ , he thought, looking up into the sky as he felt his soul start to fade away. _They really hate me._

The one time in his life something as great as meeting an idol happened, and now she thought he was not only gay, but _taken_.

_Thanks, Partner._

 “Yosuke?”

Yosuke turned back down to his partner sitting beside him. His partner, looking up at him with this big-eyed, innocent ‘Why are you so upset?’ face.

Yosuke grabbed Yu by the forearm and dragged him to the far end of the food court.

“What’s wrong?”

What’s wrong? _What’s wrong?_ How could he even ask that?

“I’m gonna die alone because of you!”

“You have me.”

_Is he planning on cockblocking me forever?!_

Yosuke could already see it now.

_It’s three years later. They’re in college. He approaches a cute girl from his chemistry study group._

_Yu’s there._

_‘Oh, hey. What’s your name? I’m Yosuke’s boyfriend.’_

_In fifteen years, they’re out in the world, living in small apartments, but getting by. A friend from work finally invited him to a mixer. There’s tons of cute girls, each just as beautiful and charming as the last. Before he can say anything beyond ‘hi’ the waiter walks in._

_It’s Yu._

_‘Yosuke, you didn’t tell me the party was here. What a surprise, Honey.’_

_Thirty years have passed since high school. His hair’s starting to turn gray, but it’s handsome on someone his age. He has a stable income and a house of his own. The secretary at work is a bombshell. Yosuke gives her a flirty greeting and a wink._

_Yu calls his name from a nearby cubicle. He walks over with a smile and wraps his arm around Yosuke’s waist._

_‘What’s up, Babe?’_

_Several years in the future, they’re eighty-something-years-old and living in a nursing home. There’s a woman a few rooms over. She’s not particularly beautiful, but at this point, neither is he. She’s cute in her own way, and makes adorable little cakes for her neighbors in her free time. They’re delicious, and always brighten Yosuke’s day. He scuttles over to her with his cane, about to tell her how good the strawberry cake from a few days ago was._

_Yu rolls over in his wheelchair and pulls Yosuke into his boney lap._

_‘Hey.’_

_Yosuke dies in his sleep at age ninety-seven. His friends and family gather together for one final goodbye before placing his ashes into his grave._

_Right next to Yu’s._

“How far are you gonna take this joke?!”

“Joke?”

Yosuke searched his partner’s face for some kind of sign. Some hint that this was a façade. Some clue that there was a reason behind this behavior. Just… _something._

There was nothing.

“You can’t be serious.”

The people around them were starting to give them weird looks, and Yosuke wasn’t sure if it was because of the soda stain on his pants or if it was because they were both hunched over a potted tree in the corner of the Junes Food Court.

“I am.”

Yosuke couldn’t believe his ears.

“You’re… you’re serious about this? You’re really serious about this?”

A small frown appeared on Yu’s face.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“And what?” Yosuke asked, throwing his hands in the air. “You just decided this without even asking me?!”

“Oh.”

Yu’s gaze dropped to the floor, and he stood there rubbing his neck with a bashful smile.

“’Oh,’ what?” The irritation in Yosuke’s voice was nearly palpable.

Meeting Yosuke’s eyes again, Yu let out a nervous laugh.

“I forgot.”

“Huh?”

It was only then that the true weight of the conversation hit him.

_He likes me._

_He like, like-likes me._

The blood rushed to Yosuke’s face fast enough to make him dizzy. He gripped the safety rail to stop himself from toppling over. Yu glanced at the rest of the IT still at the table, then turned back to Yosuke. He scratched his cheek, pink from the realization of his blunder.

“So, uh, you wanna be my boyfriend?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Day One (Confessions) of [Souyo Week 2016](http://souyoweek2016.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Originally this was gonna be a oneshot, but I really like the idea of their relationship being defined by how endearing Yosuke thinks all of Yu's fuck-ups are so you can expect more of this in the future, probably.
> 
> (ngl, this may or may not have been inspired by a certain tumblr text post - which i will insert a link to when i find it)
> 
> A big thank you to Angevon for proofreading this! 8D


	2. Chapter 2

“Chie, you gotta help me out here!”

Yosuke was pacing his bedroom floor, a phone pressed to his ear and a hand raking through his hair.

“What the heck, Yosuke?!” was the response that came blaring back at him through the speaker. He couldn’t blame her, since that hadn’t been the ideal way to start a phone call, but he was desperate and he didn’t have time for their usual back and forth.

“He asked me to be his boyfriend, Chie! How am I even supposed to respond to that?”

Yosuke passed the phone from one hand to the other and forced himself to sit on his bed so he wouldn’t wear a hole in the floor. The last thing he needed was his parents nagging on him for leaving the wooden equivalent of crop circles all over his bedroom.

“Well, how did you respond to it?”

Yosuke’s fingers toyed with the cord of his headphones as his knee bounced below.

“I…” His eyes flashed at the door. “I told him I needed time to think about it. He’s my best friend, Chie. My _partner_. I can’t just flat out reject him.”

There was a silence just long enough for him to swallow the knot growing in his throat.

“He seemed pretty bummed out when you guys came back to the table.”

“I know, I know,” Yosuke said, cringing to himself. “That’s why I’m asking for help.”

“Wh—” Chie halted on the word, but then blurted out, “Why are you asking me?!”

“Who am I supposed to ask, Chie?” Yosuke spat out. “Rise’s an idol and Yukiko would only make it worse.”

“What does being an idol have to do with anything?!”

“Would you tell an idol about your boy problems?!”

“I guess not. But what about Kanji?”

Yosuke’s knee bounced faster. He mumbled some inaudible non-answer into the receiver, his eyes glued to the bedroom doorway with paranoia.

“Yosuke!”

“I don’t have his number, okay?!”

“Why not?”

Yosuke dropped his headphone cord and rubbed his forehead.

“I don’t know. It’s like he’s always got this scary look on his face when I try to talk to him.”

“But he always looks like that.”

“No he doesn’t!” Yosuke blurted back. “Sure, he’s usually intimidating, but whenever I open my mouth he looks like he’s thinking about what needle to use to sew it shut.” Yosuke groaned and ran his hand through his hair. “He doesn’t look like that with you guys.”

“Maybe because you’re the only one that makes fun of him all the time.”

Yosuke dropped his hand to his lap.

“I don’t—” Yosuke paused to chew his lip while his brain scrolled through a slideshow of painful memories from the camping trip. “I mean, not all the time.”

“I’m just saying if you were nicer to him, maybe he wouldn’t glare at you so much.”

“I am nice to him!” Yosuke said, throwing his arm out and accidentally smacking his alarm clock hard enough to knock it to the floor. He swore to himself and slid himself off the bed and picked up the clock, looking it over to assess the damage.

“You’re constantly ragging on him, and you call that being nice?!”

“I-I bought him topsicles!” Yosuke made another arm motion for emphasis and the clock slipped out of his hand and landed right back on the floor. He scrambled to pick it up, seething a little when he saw the new crack that ran across the digital display like a lightning bolt.

“I can’t believe Yu actually likes you!”

“Come on, I’m not that bad!”

“Ugh!”

“W-wait, Chie—” Before he could finish his plea, the click of Chie’s phone slamming shut made it through the speaker and cut him off, leaving Yosuke alone with the drone of a disconnected call.

“Dammit,” he muttered, flipping his own phone shut before he found a way to break that too.

He leaned back against his bed and stared at the ceiling. He blinked and blinked again.

“Kanji, huh?”

* * *

 

“Hey Kanji, wait up!”

“What the—” Kanji looked over his shoulder, and then upon seeing Yosuke’s bright orange mop speeding toward him on his bike, he reeled around. “Senpai?!”

Seeing Kanji stopped on the road, Yosuke backpedaled into an unsuccessful brake that left him skidding forward until Kanji was forced to halt him by the handlebars just to avoid a collision.

“The hell, man? What’re you tryin’ to do?”

Once the feeling of impending death subsided, Yosuke wiped the nervous sweat from his brow and laughed through his labored breathing.

“I just wanted to talk to my favorite lug on the way to school.” Yosuke gave Kanji his best customer service wink, hoping it came off as friendly.

“You callin’ me a thug?”

“A lug, Kanji. You know, like a lovable... uh…”

“Thug,” Kanji finished for him, eyebrows, or rather, a lack thereof, leveled over unimpressed eyes. “And what’s with you gettin’ all buddy-buddy all of a sudden?”

“C’mon, dude,” Yosuke countered with a defensive edge on his voice that he tried to cover with a gentle, playful elbow jab. “We’re as buddy-buddy as anybody else around here.”

Kanji gave Yosuke a long hard stare, sizing up his words, and finally answering them with an unconvinced “Uh-huh.”

Before he could piece together a witty comeback, Yosuke’s face visibly fell as the previous night’s phone conversation echoed through his head. It lasted only a split second, but it’d been long enough to split through the shell of Kanji’s disbelief, too.

“Shut up, man,” Yosuke said with a forced, yet practiced cheerfulness that would’ve fooled anyone outside of the investigation team. “I mean, we’re teammates, right?”

“I guess,” Kanji mumbled with a shrug before starting to walk toward the school again, school bag slung over his shoulder. Yosuke followed, walking with his bike beside him and making small talk about the upcoming exams until the school gate came into view.

“Yu’s probably got this in the bag.” Yosuke groaned, making a show of shuffling his hair in frustration. “I’m so jealous.”

“Can’t you ask him to tutor you or somethin’?”

Yosuke looked at the ground, the hand in his hair slipping down to the nape of his neck.

“I’m not sure he’d want to. You know, after that… thing.”

“That why you’re talkin’ to me instead of him right now?”

“What?” Yosuke squawked, louder than he’d wanted to. “N-no, of course not. Geez, can’t a guy—”

“Can it. I know my house ain’t on your usual route, man.”

Yosuke shrunk back, eyes down and glued to his bike, and kind of wishing his bike was more solid, like a wall, so he could hide behind it.

“I mean,” he sighed, letting his hand fall down to his side. “I guess I did kinda… wanna ask you for some advice.”

“M-me?!” Kanji flinched back.

“W-well…” Yosuke swallowed the knot in his throat, and readied himself to run in case the next thing he said hit a sore spot. “You like dudes, r-right?”

“Wha—Y-yeah, but I ain’t never dated one!”

“Neither have I!” Yosuke blurted back, the idea of running exiting his mind instantly. “How do you think I feel?!”

“What the hell, man?!” Kanji swung his arm out, no intent to hit, but close enough to make Yosuke try to dodge. “This ain’t even about you.”

“He asked me out.” Yosuke leaned back into the argument, one hand on his chest and the other thrown back, leaving his bike to fall on the ground with a clatter. “It’s totally about me!”

Kanji took Yosuke by the collar and pulled him so close that he had no choice but to make eye contact. It was the kind of eye contact that made men bigger than Yosuke wet their pants, and Yosuke found himself feeling thankful he’d gone before leaving the house that morning.

“You ain’t the one that went home lookin’ like his dog died.”

“S-s-so w-what?” Yosuke stuttered as he dared to put a shaking hand on Kanji’s wrist. “I’m j-just supposed to—supposed to say yes?” He gulped. “Even if I don’t want to?”

“No,” Kanji said, releasing his grip and pushing Yosuke back. “But you could respect him enough to talk to him about it instead of the rest of us.” Kanji turned away, and scratched his head. “Thought you guys were supposed to be ‘partners’.”

Kanji passed one last glance at Yosuke, who was staring at his shoes and shuffling the dirt into a little mound between them, and then with a look to the school clock, he left Yosuke to his own thoughts.

* * *

 

Yosuke was crumpled over his desk, face down in his own self-loathing when Yu walked into the classroom.

“Mornin’!” Chie greeted Yu with a smile. Yosuke cringed to himself, remembering the cold shoulder she’d given him earlier.

“Good morning,” Yukiko said.

“Morning,” Yu echoed, pausing at his desk to stare at the heap of Yosuke slouched over the desk behind his own.

“Ignore him,” Chie said with a dismissive wave. Somewhere under his bowl cut, Yu’s brows came together.

“Did something happen?” he asked, taking his seat.

“I heard Kanji put him in his place this morning. Out in front of the school gates.”

Yu turned back to Yosuke, looking down on the part of his hair with a slight frown.

“By the way,” Yukiko said, pulling Yu out of his thoughts. “You were later than usual today. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I… I, uh,” Yu scratched his head. “I forgot something and had to go back for it.”

Yukiko and Chie passed glances to each other, but neither had the chance to say what was on their minds before the school bell rang.

* * *

 

Lunch passed slowly and painfully. Yu ate with the girls on the other side of the classroom, a location Yosuke was fairly sure they’d chosen so they could have some kind of secret Yosuke roast beyond his earshot but still within range to point and laugh. Yukiko and Chie kept laughing together, but they eventually settled into shared looks of concern when Yu didn’t laugh with them.

Yosuke was watching them all the while, only turning away when Yu lifted his head from his bento. When this happened, Yosuke turned his attention to picking at his food, wishing it’d magically become more appetizing. This pattern continued until Yosuke couldn’t find a time to look back at Yu, because Yu couldn’t find a time to look back at his bento. And so, instead, Yosuke would glance up occasionally only to meet Yu’s eyes and then instantly whip his gaze directly back down to his lunch, his face redder each time.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing!” Yosuke squawked into the sandwich he’d bought from work the day before. Wiping all of the food debris and none of the blush from his face, he whipped around to glare at Kou for scaring him. “Seriously, what the hell?”

Kou shrugged and sat next to him. Daisuke walked over, his own lunch in hand.

“It’s weird to see you eating by yourself,” Daisuke said. Yosuke shoved his sandwich into his mouth to buy some thinking time and then tossed another glance toward Yu, which was cut short by the way Yu’s eyes were locked on him, just like the other glances. Like hopeless skeets shot down by a military grade laser.

“Yeah,” Kou agreed, sending a look of his own at Yu. “I thought you two were tight.”

Yosuke coughed up the ham he’d been trying to swallow.

“It’s—I-it’s not like that!” he sputtered, arm out in an unnecessary gesture that nearly propelled his lunch across the room.

Kou and Daisuke exchanged glances, worried and confused, respectively, and in the pause, Yosuke felt a part of his soul chip away when he realized just how far his mind had reached for that unwanted interpretation.

“You okay, man?”

Yosuke rubbed his forehead.

“Yeah, I…” He shook his head and looked back at his lunch. “Don’t worry about it.”

Across the room, Yu lowered his eyes.

* * *

 

The last bell rang, and before Yosuke could even reach for his bag, Yu had flung around and trapped Yosuke into a conversation.

“Can we talk?”

Yosuke hesitated, knowing it would be about _that_ , because everything since it happened had been about _that_ , but in his head, Kanji was still yelling at him, reminding him that he was coward who couldn’t even hold a conversation with his best friend.

Yosuke sighed.

“Yeah,” he said, then shook his head. “Not here though.”

Yu nodded.

“The riverbank?”

Yosuke closed his notes from class and rubbed his neck.

“Actually, is your place okay?”

Yu blinked, surprise clearing his serious expression.

“Yeah,” he said, almost as if it was a question, and then more confidently added, “Sure.”

Yosuke gave him a weak smile.

“Thanks.”

* * *

 

The two of them walked to the Dojimas’ house together. The start of the trek home had been filled with awkward small talk on Yosuke’s end, as he grasped for anything to fill the silence, but Yu wasn’t saying much, only nodding and grunting, with the occasional noncommittal shrug. Slowly, Yosuke’s fountain of shallow topics dried up and he was forced to endure the quiet Inaba afternoon with only Yu and his footsteps to keep him company. It wasn’t a long walk, per se, but not knowing if Yu would still be his best friend after their talk only made the walk longer.

Kanji’s words were still echoing in his head, and he’d been doing well to ignore them until the silence had set in. Yosuke looked over to his best friend, and saw him walking as he often did, a hand in his pocket and his school bag over his shoulder. But he also saw the unusually tight way Yu’s arms were held to his body and how stiffly he walked. It was a stark contrast to their usual comfortable walks together. Yosuke's gaze fell to the sidewalk.

Kanji was right. Yu deserved better.

They approached the front door. Yu pulled the key from his pocket and looked it over. He took a deep breath and turned to Yosuke.

“Are you okay with this?”

Yosuke nudged him with a forced playfulness.

“Dude, I’ve been in your house before.” The cheerful tone was fake, and Yu could tell, and because of the insecure way Yu’s eyebrows pressed down over his eyes, Yosuke could tell that Yu could tell. “I mean, it’s… it’s…” Yosuke racked his brain for something that could save the moment.

“It’s not the house you’re worried about.”

“I didn’t say that.”

Yu turned the key in his hand and took in a quiet sigh that he breathed out through his nose.

“I didn’t—” Yosuke shook his head and snatched the key from Yu’s hand. “Stop making it weirder than it is and just—” He shoved the key into the lock and pushed open the door. “—just go in already!”

Yu watched him for a few seconds, frowning all the while, but then went in, Yosuke not far behind him. They took off their shoes and headed upstairs to Yu’s bedroom. The desk was covered in study materials, which was no surprise given the upcoming tests. A bit stranger though, were the paper cranes scattered about the room. Two or three was the usual, but at least twenty were tucked away in various nooks and crannies of the room, filling every space that Yu normally left clean.

“Nanako will be home soon.”

Yosuke nodded, nerves making his foot tap against the wooden floor.

“You’re really hitting the origami lately, huh?”

Yu glanced at a couple of the paper birds, then picked at his fingernails.

“You can sit down.”

“Oh.” Yosuke gave another stiff nod. “Right.”

He took a seat on Yu’s couch, and Yu sat in front of the work table on the floor, opposite from Yosuke. Yosuke started to move to sit at the same level, but Yu lifted his hand and motioned him back.

The clock ticked, and the edge of Yu’s mouth twitched as he looked everywhere except at Yosuke, who just then could have sworn that for the first time in history, Yu was more uncomfortable than he was.

“About the other day,” Yu started, but then hesitated, eyes searching the floor as if he’d dropped his thoughts. “I think… I imagined it too hard.”

Yosuke searched Yu’s face, top to bottom, left to right, backwards and over again.

“You… you what?”

“I’ve actually liked you for a really long time.” Yu chanced a look up only to see Yosuke blankly staring back. “So I, um…” Yu looked back down at his fidgeting hands. “I thought about asking you out a lot.”

A silence that felt longer than it actually was stretched between them as Yosuke’s brain tried to process the words being fed into it.

“So…” Yosuke raised his hands up in front of him, slowly pointing to Yu. “You,” he said slowly, curling his hands in to point back at himself. “Imagined asking me out?”

Focused on his own hands, Yu gave a meek nod.

“Wait, so, that means…” Yosuke frowned, dropping one hand to his lap and letting the other point back at Yu. “That means you imagined me saying yes?”

Yu brought a hand up and rubbed his neck.

“It might have been a dream,” he admitted, eyes on the table.

“Dude…” Yosuke ran a hand through his hair and looked away so he wouldn't feel even worse about the downtrodden look on his partner’s face.

Yu kept his eyes down and continued.

“Sorry. It does sound kinda creepy, now that I've said it.”

There was a part of Yosuke that was inclined to agree, but he’d never seen Yu like this before, uncomfortable and vulnerable and…

Yosuke glanced over— _oh god, are his hands shaking?_

“W-well wait, it's… it's not that creepy.” Yu lifted his head, his face questioning, and Yosuke continued, “I mean, an attractive guy like you after me? That's kinda flattering, you know?”

Something flickered in Yu's eyes.

“You think I'm attractive?”

“ _That’s_ what you pulled out of that?” Yosuke made a face, but he dropped it as soon as he noticed that unfitting uneasiness taking over his partner again. “I guess, what I'm saying is, I thought about it, and…”

Yosuke crossed his arms and looked down at his knees.

“I mean, if I had to pick a guy...”

“Thanks, Yosuke.”

“Huh?”

“I'm glad we can still be friends.” Yu rubbed his neck and smiled at the table. “The way you were acting today, I thought I'd really messed up.”

“What?” Yosuke’s arms dropped and he leaned forward. “I mean, duh, of course we're still friends, but I, um…”

For a split second, he considered dropping his plan, since Yu seemed relaxed again, back to normal, but his conscience was still reciting Kanji’s words about respecting his friend more in his ear, and, as more seconds passed, Yu was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish a sentence he kind of wished he hadn’t already started.

“I, uh… I thought… like, it's just you, right? So why not, you know?”

Yu stared at him, his face unreadable, and Yosuke, wiping his hands on his pant legs and wondering why he was the nervous one all of a sudden, couldn't bear to look at him.

“I mean, like, we’re together all the time anyway. It's not like… like…” _It's not like what?_ Yosuke asked himself, before Chie’s voice came back to him, booming through his ears, questioning why Yu would ever like someone like him. Yosuke clenched his fists and straightened his back, and summoning a newfound bitter resolve, he said, “Look, if there's a guy I’m gonna like, it's gonna be you, so we might as well give it a shot.”

Yu was still staring at him in bewilderment, but Yosuke’s voice had fled for the hills and left the two of them to their tense silence.

Yu shifted himself until he was sitting on his knees, back straight.

“So… is that a yes?”

Yosuke nodded quickly before he could take it back.

Yu looked at the table and scratched his head.

“Alright.”

Yosuke blinked and turned back to face Yu.

 _Wait? That's it? Just 'alright’?_ Somehow, that kind of lukewarm reply was far more disappointing than Yosuke ever expected it to be.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I'm sure!” Yosuke said, the words bursting out of him before he could think about what he was saying. “What kind of friend would I be if—” His brain caught up with him just in the nick of time, and though he paused and stammered awkwardly, he finished, “—if I lied about something like this?”

Yu smiled again, more warmly, glancing bashfully up to Yosuke.

“Really?”

“R-really.”

Trying to ignore the intense heat in his face, Yosuke forced himself to look at his partner, who was smiling shyly down at the table.

Yosuke smiled back and laughed, hoping his nerves couldn't be heard through his laughter.

_…Crap._

_What have I gotten myself into?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey what's up my dudes how was your year
> 
> Good news I found the plot for this fic
> 
> Also ngl I accidentally wrote myself into a Bad End the first time I tried to make this chapter. (nervous laugh)


	3. Chapter 3

Being Yu’s boyfriend, much to Yosuke’s surprise, wasn’t much different from being his best friend. They still did the same things they did before. They still walked to school together, ate lunch together, walked home together, studied together, and got distracted by completely trivial conversations together. They were doing these things together more often than before, he supposed, but if he was being honest, he rather liked the attention.

For the most part though, things weren’t as different as Yosuke had expected them to be. Somehow he’d thought it’d be mushier, more embarrassing, more… affectionate?

They’d reached the ‘study together’ part of their routine. They were at the Dojima house that day, cramming for their upcoming exams, and Yu seemed determined to continue quizzing Yosuke until he’d memorized every word in the English language. They finished one ring of flashcards and Yu picked up another.

Yosuke flopped down over the table. “Can’t we take a break?”

Yu looked down at the cards in his hand, then up at the clock. “I guess we have been at this for a while.”

“My brain feels like it’s gonna explode.” Yosuke stretched his arms out in front of him. “I don’t think all those words are gonna fit in there.”

Yu rested his head in his arms on the table so that he was at Yosuke’s eye level, softly smiling at him. “You know that’s not how it works.”

“I know,” Yosuke sighed. “That test is gonna kick my ass.”

Yu lightly shook his head. “I believe in you.”

Yosuke gave a weak laugh and nudged Yu’s elbow with his own. “That makes one of us.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Thanks.”

Yu smiled a little wider and put his hand on Yosuke’s arm, causing a strange tingling sensation to bubble up from the site of contact.

That was the first thing Yosuke had noticed had changed.

“You want something to drink?”

“Um, yeah. Yeah. Sure.” Yosuke’s nerves pushed another laugh out of him and it took all of his willpower to drag his eyes from Yu’s hand to Yu’s face. “Water’s fine.”

Yu patted Yosuke’s arm and stood up to stretch. Yosuke’s eyes fell back to the sparks dancing under his skin.

“You sure? We’ve got soda.”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah.”

Yu frowned and scratched his head. “Alright.”

Yosuke sat up and leaned back. He stretched his arms back behind his head as Yu headed to the kitchen. Yosuke relaxed against the sofa behind him while he watched Yu take the glasses out of the cupboard.

“Say, Partner?”

Yu glanced back in acknowledgment, then turned his attention back to the ice tray he’d pulled from the freezer. “Hm?”

“English is your best subject, right?”

“ _Yes,_ ” Yu answered, in English, with such an exaggerated accent that Yosuke couldn’t help but laugh at it.

“How’d you get so good at it? You watch a lot of foreign flicks or something?”

Yu brought back their drinks and set them on the living room table. “Foreign exchange student.” Yu sat back down. “We both had trouble making friends, so we hit it off pretty quick.”

“Kinda hard to imagine you having that problem.”

Yu curled his fingers around his glass and shrugged. “I was transferred there in the middle of the year.”

“So?”

Yu made a face at his glass as he silently turned it around in his hands. A few seconds passed, and then Yosuke shrunk back and took a long sip of his water as he tried to think of a way to change the subject.

“So… was it a guy? Girl?”

“Girl.”

“She cute?” Yosuke winked.

Yu shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You guess?”

Yu shrugged again and turned his attention to the window. The sun was still out, but well on its way to the horizon, and as the sun sank, so too did Yosuke’s realization of what he’d said.

“I mean, not that it’d matter if she was,” Yosuke rushed to say, sitting up at full attention. Yu looked back at Yosuke and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, more words came spilling out of Yosuke. “Because I’m--” He took Yu’s hand in his own, and the tingling sensation returned with such a fierce intensity that it erased the rest of the thought from Yosuke’s brain. “I’m… uh...”

Yu’s lips parted further as his eyes settled on the two of Yosuke’s hands clasped around one of his own, and then they came back together into a small smile.

“Thanks, Yosuke.”

Yu brushed his thumb across Yosuke’s fingers, and Yosuke’s face grew hotter and hotter as he realized what they were doing. He stared at their hands, and with a nervous wobble of a smile, he mumbled, “Y-yeah, no problem, Partner.”

When the tingling began to subside, Yosuke noticed the callouses on Yu’s palm. He moved his fingertips along them, gently pressing each one, more out of nerves than curiosity, until a clicking came from the front door and Yu pulled his hand away before the door swung open.

Dojima walked in with his usual tired after work expression, the one that said he’d spent entirely too much of the day dealing with questions rather than answers. “I’m home,” he said, kicking off his shoes and dragging himself into the kitchen.

“Welcome back,” Yu said, watching his uncle in such a way that Yosuke thought maybe he should, too.

Dojima took a couple steps toward the refrigerator, then paused as he noticed the two pairs of eyes locked on him. “What are you two looking at?” He turned to Yosuke. “And what are you all red for?”

Yosuke opened his mouth to answer, but Yu cut him off.

“We were seeing how long we could hold our breath."

Dojima pulled a drink from the fridge. “Don’t hurt yourselves.”

“We’ll be careful,” Yu assured him with a subtle yet relieved smile.

That was the second thing that had changed. Yosuke had never noticed it before, and maybe it was only because he’d never known to look for it, but with each day they spent as a couple, it became increasingly obvious to him who Yu was and wasn’t out to.

_So Dojima doesn’t know, huh?_

It was also increasingly obvious that Yu’s ability to lie was questionable at best. His straight-faced jokes were often more convincing than his lies, but he always seemed to get away with it somehow. Maybe because he was trustworthy, or maybe because the lie wasn’t harmful, or maybe just because he had a pretty face.

_Wait… did I really just think that?_

Yosuke spared a glance to that face. The thought didn’t allow him to cool down at all, and he found relief in the fact that Yu had already covered for his red complexion.

 _What am I freaking out for? Anyone with eyes would think that._ And if Yosuke was honest with himself, he was glad to at least be in this situation with someone attractive. Glad that if anyone found out he was ‘dating’ a guy, that it was someone that their classmates would think: ‘For him? Understandable.’

It was a petty thought, but it brought Yosuke a small level of comfort.

Dojima took a seat on the couch behind Yosuke. “I suppose it’s that time of year. You kids have any plans to go to the beach?”

“It is that time,” Yu said, aiming a pair of particularly bright eyes in Yosuke’s direction, making Yosuke wonder if Yu was really looking forward to seeing him in swimwear again that much. Though a part of Yosuke wanted to be annoyed, he was enjoying the ego boost.

The phone rang. Yu volunteered to answer it. The conversation was short, and after a few nods and simple acknowledgments, Yu had hung up and was making his way back to the living room table.

“Nanako said she’ll be late, but that her friend’s mom will bring her home before bedtime.”

“Alright.” Dojima laid back against the couch with a resigned sigh. “Is it okay if I watch the news?”

Yosuke was about to answer, but Yu beat him to it again.

“Sure.” Yu started collecting the study materials. “My room?” he offered, making a motion toward the stairs.

“Uh, y-yeah. Sure thing, Partner.” Yosuke got up and picked up his own things. One arm over his head in a stretch, he followed Yu up the stairs trying to look as nonchalant as he could about the whole thing, like they were going up there as friends instead of boyfriends.

They hadn’t been alone together in one of each other’s rooms since the day they’d become a ‘couple,’ and as the two of them ascended the stairs, so too did Yosuke’s heart start its ascent into his throat. His mind was reeling with thoughts of all the things Yu might want to do with him, to him. They hadn’t been dating that long, but Yosuke had no idea how fast Yu worked. Yu was an attractive guy after all; he was probably used to girls (and probably guys, too) throwing themselves at him. When Yosuke thought about it like that, he was kind of surprised his best-boy-friend hadn’t tried to bed him already.

The two of them settled around the work table in Yu’s bedroom.

“Maybe we should take a break from English.” Yu rearranged his papers. “How are your math grades looking?”

“Not great,” Yosuke said with a wink and nervous chuckle. Yu smiled back at him and flipped open his textbook.

And then, for the next two hours, as the sun sank under the horizon, _nothing happened_.

Yosuke lifted his head from his work and watched Yu for a couple minutes, scrutinizing even the tiniest twitch of his partner’s pencil. Yu was too far buried in his practice problems to notice how Yosuke was looking him over, searching for some sign, some explanation as to why he hadn’t made a move yet.

 _Of course he hasn’t tried anything,_ Yosuke scolded himself. _He’s still my best friend. He’d have more respect for me than that, right?_ And just as that thought had begun to calm him, a new alarming one rose to the top of his mind:

_What if he just doesn’t find me that attractive?_

Yosuke physically shook the thought from his mind. _He was the one that asked me out,_ he reminded himself, his frustrated determination seeping onto his face. _Well, not really asked, so much as—UGH. WHATEVER._

He shuffled his hair, the frustration clearly showing through all his features. He forced himself to take a deep breath and eased the anger out through his nose. He wasn’t even really sure why he cared. It wasn’t like he wanted to do that stuff with a guy. Sure, if it was Yu, it probably wouldn’t be that bad, but…

It bothered him. Yosuke didn’t know why, but it bothered him. It was like he’d given Yu a free pass and Yu was squandering it on math homework. Which was a weird thing to think, and Yosuke knew that, but instead of feeling the relief he knew he should’ve felt, he grew more and more irritated by the second.

Maybe Yu just needed a little prodding, he decided, doing just that, nudging Yu’s foot under the table with his own. The first nudge only made Yu shift himself to give Yosuke more space, but the second, pressed firmly into Yu’s heel with purpose, got his attention. Yu lifted his eyes from his book to meet Yosuke’s determined gaze, and without a word, he did what anyone in his position would do.

He dug his toes into Yosuke’s arch.

And though the power behind it caught Yosuke off-guard, Yosuke quickly recovered, sliding his foot to the side and then pushing Yu’s foot down under it. Yu pushed back until their arches were crossed, almost as though they were arm wrestling with their feet.

Yosuke entertained the thought of calling it ‘leg wrestling’ until deeming it embarrassingly like something Chie would be into.

As they realized they’d reached a stalemate, Yu eased up.

“C’mon, Partner, don’t--”

Yu brought his foot upright, aligned with Yosuke’s, and, using his larger shoe size to his advantage, he curled his toes over Yosuke’s gently squeezing them and completely wiping out the rest of whatever Yosuke had been saying. Yu sat there, innocent as could be, his pink face smiling softly as he rocked their feet back and forth.

Yosuke lit up, his blush hitting him hard and all at once with such an intensity it made him glow. His foot was overcome with that same tingling feeling that usually came with Yu’s touch as of late.

And Yosuke’s brain, likely deciding that either the silence too much or the embarrassment was too little, sent the following message to his mouth: “You know what they say about big feet, right, Partner?”

The smile fell from Yu’s face, leaving a blank, though still pink expression in its place.

“Yeah?”

“Oh.” Yosuke turned away and rubbed his nose, trying to cover up his blazing red face. “Cool. Guess I don’t have to explain it then.” Yosuke wasn’t sure what he’d expected that comment to yield. Even if Yu had said no, it wasn’t like he’d be able to explain it with any less mortification than he was already experiencing.

Yu’s eyes fell back to his paper. He scratched the back of his head, and raised his eyes again. “Uh, yeah. I looked it up in middle school.”

“Yeah, yeah, um, same.”

Seconds passed silently, until Yu let out a tiny sigh and pulled his foot back out of Yosuke’s personal space. “Sorry.”

Yosuke straightened up. “What? Dude, no. I started it. Besides,” he paused to think, resting his elbow on the table and drawing circles in the air with his hand, trying to draw out his idea. “We’re supposed to be like… _you know,_ you know?”

Yu gave him a weak smile that faded quickly as he picked up his pencil and his eyes sank back down to his textbook.

The silence stretched out long and tense between them, or at least it felt tense to Yosuke, who was mentally kicking himself.

 _Crap, crap, Chie was right. I am a terrible boyfriend._ Yosuke dragged his hand down his face. Yu glanced up at him, but said nothing and returned to his work. Yosuke shoved his hands up into his hair and fell backwards onto the floor.

“You need help?” Yu finally asked, eyes still glued to his work.

“I shouldn’t have even brought that up. That was stupid. _Stupid._ ”

Yu looked over at Yosuke, and then slowly lifted his head. “Yosuke?”

“Haha, I think I’ll kick my boyfriend under the table and then I’ll start making assumptions out loud about his dick. Great idea, Yosuke. Why don’t you write that one down and trademark it?” Yosuke grabbed a book from Yu’s shelf and laid it over his face to cover up the shame, but then instantly regretted it when his senses were overwhelmed by the scent of old paper. Yosuke endured it as long as he could, then lifted the book back up and looked over its pages. “Is this a bug catching guide? You seriously own a bug catching guide?”

When Yosuke tossed the book aside and turned to his partner expecting an answer, he instead saw Yu, face red and eyes glazed over, staring right at him.

“Partner?”

Yu broke into a bashful grin and shook his head. “It’s nothing. Thanks.”

Yosuke raised an eyebrow. “For...?”

But Yu only shook his head again and tapped the end of his pencil against his notebook. “We’ll have to go bug catching together sometime.”

Yosuke picked the book back up and flipped it open with a smile. “Can’t wait to see the master bug catcher at work.”

The rest of the night passed, uneventful. Yosuke remained unbedded, though he finally managed to feel good about it. He didn’t know why, but Yu kept glancing up at him, smiling at him, and that had to be a good sign, right?

Eventually though, thanks to the looming stress of upcoming exams and the static fear it plants in one’s mind, both of them were able to focus on their studies.

“Oh, shoot. It’s pretty late,” said Yosuke after seeing the clock. Yu’s face was still buried in his textbook, though on closer inspection, Yu’s hand had stopped sometime between then and the last time Yosuke had looked. Yosuke somewhat hesitantly tapped Yu’s shoulder, chewing on his lip to ignore the tingling. “Hey, you awake?”

Yu was not awake, it turned out. Yosuke got up and pulled Yu back up from behind, the textbook page reluctantly peeling off of Yu’s cheek as Yosuke carefully raised his head. Yu lolled backwards, nearly falling until Yosuke caught him and steadied him against his leg.

“Dude, really? Are you really doing this to me?” He tapped Yu’s face in hopes it would wake him, but to no avail. Yosuke sighed melodramatically and rubbed his neck. “Looks like I’ve gotta do everything around here.” He smiled to himself, despite his complaint, and after leaning Yu against the sofa, he pulled out Yu’s futon.

“No stash here, huh?” he said, half disappointed because he hadn’t found anything, and half disappointed because he hadn’t gotten any kind of rise out of Yu for saying it. “C’mere, Partner.” He gently tugged Yu over and laid him out on the futon, doing his best not to touch Yu anywhere weird, though with the way his body seemed to have been recently hardwired to react to touching Yu anywhere, it was hard to tell if anywhere wasn’t weird.

Yosuke pulled the duvet over Yu, then looked down at his partner. Yu’s sleeping face wasn’t one Yosuke was used to seeing. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen it before (the night of the camping trip hadn’t exactly been restful), but kneeling over him with the lights on, seeing his features so plainly, with no emotion or facade painted over them, it was a rare and strangely magnetic sight.

He wanted to touch it. He wanted to touch it so bad. Even just a small poke.

He didn’t.

But he wanted to.

God, did he want to.

Instead he tore a small piece of paper from his notebook and scribbled out a note thanking Yu for the help and saying he’d see him at school tomorrow. He paused at the end of the note, making a face at it as he thought about what kind of note a good boyfriend might write.

The words themselves, he decided, were fine, but the note still needed something.

He tried to imagine the kind of note he’d hope a girl would leave for him, and came to the conclusion that what was missing was some kind of picture or doodle, something cute and personal that would make him smile no matter how mundane the note was.

A heart should be fine, he thought. Simple. Cute. Effective.

But as he put the lead back to the paper and found his fingers unable to move and his face hot, he realized it was also embarrassing as hell.

And so instead, he spent five minutes sketching out a very elaborate, though not particularly good, winking stick figure. He gave himself a glance in Yu’s mirror to check the stick figure’s resemblance to its creator.

_Eh… close enough._

Yosuke stuck the note on the desk where Yu couldn’t miss it, packed up his things, turned out the light, and headed downstairs.

Dojima had since moved from the couch to the kitchen table, and was looking over the newspaper. He looked up when he heard Yosuke’s footsteps descending the stairway.

“Just you?” he asked.

“Yeah. Yu dozed off.” Yosuke laughed, more nerves than humor as he remembered what Yu hadn’t told his uncle. “Doesn’t really seem like him, right?”

“That explains why he’s not seeing you off.” Dojima folded up his paper and set it on the table. “By the way, I’ve noticed you two have been spending a lot of time together lately.”

Yosuke felt a small chill go through him, and he forced out another nervous laugh. “You know, exams.”

Dojima’s brows came together, and he echoed back, words drawn out by doubt, “Yeah. Exams.”

“Well, I better get going,” Yosuke said quickly, rushing to put on his shoes.

“Listen, Hanamura.” Dojima gave him a hard look, stopping Yosuke in his tracks. “I’m glad he’s making friends, but you two better not pull anything like you did with the swords at the food court ever again, got it?”

Yosuke gripped the strap of his bag over his shoulder and swallowed. “Understood, sir.”

“Good.” Dojima’s face softened, and he picked up his paper again. “You better head out. It’s a school night.”

Yosuke tried to laugh again, but it came out more like a scared whine. “Yeah. See you around.”

He scrambled out the door before Dojima could answer him. As he rushed down the street away from his uneasy conversation with Yu’s uncle, he muttered, “See you around? What the hell, self?”


End file.
